Fish splitting and cleaning machine.



Patented 001. 7, I902.

A. J. FARMER.

FISH SPLITTING AND CLEANING MACHINE.

(Appliciflon am Nov. 4, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Shed I.

(No Model.)

7: warns PrrEEs on nowuuwm. WASNWGTDN, u c.

Patented Oct. 7, I902.

A. J. FABNIER.

FISH SPLITTING AND CLEANING MACHINE.

(Application filed Nov. 4, 1901.)

3 ShaetsShaet 2,

(No Model.)

Patented Oct. 7, I902.

A. J. FARMER.

FISH SPLITTING AND CLEANING MACHINE.

(Application filed Nov. 4, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No mm.)

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT J. FARMER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO-TIIIRDS TO JOSEPH P. IIALLER AND C. P. HALE, OF SAN FRANCISCO,

CALIFORNIA.

FlSi-i SPLF'TIMG AND CLEANlNG MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,912, dated October'7, 1902.

Application filed November I, 1901. Serial No. 81,016. (No model.)

To (117, whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT J. FARMER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California,have invented an Improvement in Fish Splitting and Cleaning Machines;and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

My invention relates to a machine which is designed to split and cleanfish.

It consists of a series of rollers having teeth orspikes adapted toengage and carry the fish, means by which said rollers are adjustablefor fish of different sizes, mountings for the rollers by which thefirst rollers encountered by the entering fish present approximatelyvertical gripping-surfaces, and these are gradually inclined until atthe discharge the surfaces of the rollers are presented downwardly, soas to flatten out the fish for drying or similar purposes. Intermediatebetween the rollersisa splitting and graduallyspreading device by whichthe fish is opened out in unison with the gradually-changing faces ofthe pressure-rollers and mechanism in conjunction therewith by which theentrails are cleaned out during the progress of the fish through theapparatus.

\ My invention also comprises details of cont struction, which will bemore fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a verticaltransverse section, taken on lines a: so of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal central section of part of the apparatus, showing thesplitting, spreading, and cleaning devices. Fig. 4c is a perspectiveview of the splitter and spreader. Fig. 5 is an en- 0 largedlongitudinal sectional view of the machine. Fig. 6 is aplan view of theknife and spreader.

The apparatus comprises a series of rollers A, having teeth or spursupon their peripheries adapted to engage the fish,which is deliveredinto the apparatus near one end. The first of these rollers haveessentially vertical journals about which they revolve, and whilepassing through between the first one or two pairs of rollers the fishis carried over the splitting-knife 2 and the separated sides commenceto pass over the gradually-diverging surfaces of the spreader 3, whichextends behind the central and vertically-disposed cutter 2 andgradually diverge, as shown in Fig. 4:, until. at the rear end it isapproximately fiat, so that the fish passing over this spreader willhave the sides gradually opened out until it is approximately flat, thisbeing especially desirable in preparing such fish codfish, which are tobe flattened out for the purpose of drying. The surfaces of the rollersA, which coincide with the graduallyseparating sides of the spreader 3,are correspondingly beveled, or the rollers are turned so that they willpresent spiked faces to press against the outer surface of thegraduallyopening sides of the fish and to hold it firmly against thespreader over which it is being moved. hen the inclination of thesesurfaces becomes greater than forty-five degrees, it is preferable tochange the position of the shafts upon which the rollers are carried, sothat the rollers toward the end will stand in the position shown at Aand the final ones may have their shafts approximately horizontal, sothat the rollers will stand in the position shown at A Thus the surfacesof the rollers which engage and carry the fish will gradually changetheir angle of presentation from approximately vertical, as in therollers A, to an approximately horizontal one in the rollers A thusconforming to the gradual change in shape of the spreader. In order todrive these rollers in unison and at the same time to allow themsufficient freedom to adjust themselves to large or small fish passingbetween them, I have shown the first rollers A and. A as mounted uponvertical journal-shafts ,4, to which the rollers are keyed or otherwisesecured, so that motion may be transmitted through them. In the presentconstruction the rollers are shown as hollow and the upper ends of therollers are fixed to the top of the shaft 4. The shaft 4 is guided in asleeve 5, which is formed with or carried by a horizontallyslidableplate or carrier 6. The lower end of the shaft a has upon it abevel-gear 7, which engages with a corresponding bevel-gear 8, and thislatter gear is slidable upon a horizontal journal-shaft 9, but is soconnected as to be driven by the shaft whatever change in the positionof the gear takes place by a feather and keyway, as at 10. The outerends of the shafts 9 carry bevel-gears 11, and these mesh withcorresponding gears 12 upon horizontal journal-shafts 13, which extendalong the sides of the machine. One shaft transmits power to drive therollers upon one side and the other those upon the other side. Power todrive these shafts 13 in unison is transmitted from the main shaft 14 bybevelgears, as at 15, so that the whole series of rollers is driven inunison. The gears 8, slidable upon the feathers 10, have annular groovesaround the hubs, as at 16, and these are engaged by clutch-shaped forks17, extending down on each sideof the grooved hubs and having theirupper ends secured to the slidable carrier 6, so that whenever a fish oflarge di mensions passes between the rollers A these rollers will bepressed outwardly, and as they are mounted upon the carrier 6 the lattermust move in unison with them, and by means of the clutch-fork 17 thegears 8 are correspondingly moved in unison with the gear 7, thus alwaysremaining in mesh. Whenever the fish has passed the carriers,the rollersand other parts are returned to their normal position of least distancebetween the rollers A by means of springs, as shown at 18. The distanceto which they can be returned is limited by stop-bars 19, carried bysome portion of the moving parts and adapted to engage 'a fixed portionof the frame, such as 20, to limit the inward movement of the rollers.As the faces of these rollers are required to diverge to correspond withthe form of the spreader 3, it will be seen that up to about forty-fivedegrees the faces of the rollers may be beveled, as shown at A in Fig.2, with the same vertical disposition of the shafts; but when the anglebecomes more nearly vertical than forty-five degrees it will benecessary to change the angles of the rollers themselves. In such casethe rollers, as at A are mounted upon shafts journaled at the properangle, as shown at 22, and these shafts carry bevel-gears 23, which areengaged by bevel-gears 24 upon vertically-disposed shafts, which aredriven by connection with the counter-shaft 13 by means of gears 11 and12, as before described. When the rollers have arrived at the positionshown at A their shafts are essentially horizontal, and they are thendriven by bevel-gears meshing at right angles, as shown at 25. The mainframe of the apparatus has suitable yokes or supports for the variousparts in their change of position, as shown at 26.

Above the splitting and spreading device is a plate 27, beneath whichthe upper portion of the fish passes and with which it contacts, so thatthe interior part will be held down in contact with the spreader. Thisplate 27 has vertical posts or stems 28 passing through a fixed rigidbar 29, which forms a part of or is supported from the main frame,and bymeans of springs, as at 30, interposed between the movable plate 27 andthe fixed bar 29, the plate is yieldingly held down, but is allowed torise when the thickness of the passing fish makes it necessary.

27 is a fixed plate in line with the plate 27 and extending toward thefront or entering end of the machine. At a sufficient distance beneaththis plate to act as a support for the approaching fish before itreaches the grips of the feed-rollers is a spring-supported plate 33,and when a fish is presented it is first passed over this yielding plate33 and beneath the rigid plate 27. This allows fish of any size to passto the knife, and the upper plate holds all fish so that the proper cutis made. After leaving the knife and while passing over the spreader thelatter supports the fish from below and the plate 27 yields from aboveas may be necessary. From the termination of the plate or support 33 toa point where the knife is fixed the fish is unsupported except by thegrip of the rollers or carriers by which it is transferred at thispoint. In this manner by the automatic adjustment of the rollers and thepressure-plates 27 and 33 and the gradually-chan ging angles of thespreader and the corresponding rollers the fish will be carried throughthe apparatus, split, opened out to any desired degree, to the extent ofmaking it perfectly fiat at the end. During this operation it isdesirable to cleanse the interiorof the entrails and soft portions. Thisis effected by separating the spreader into two parts, leaving an openchannel at the rear portion, as shown at 31.

32 represents elastic blades or scrapers of any suitable characterprojecting up through this open portion of the spreader in such a mannerthat they will enter the open cavity of the fish, and as the fish passesover these scrapers the entrails and soft portions will be entirelyscraped out by their action and discharged downwardly.

It will be seen that in this apparatus the fish is presented bellydownward, and after being seized by the rollers or carriers it issupported by their grip upon the sides without any support orobstruction beneath when the fish arrives at the knife, and when it issplit there is a free and unobstructed space for the escape of theentrails.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination in a fish-cleaningapparatus of revoluble rollersopposing each other in pairs and having spurs projecting from theirperiphery, means for positively driving the rollers, a splitting-knifeand spreader intermediate between said rollers, and mechanism by whichthe rollers may be separated or caused to approach each other.

2. The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a centrally-disposedvertical splitting knife, a spreader consisting of sides graduallydiverging from the knife to an approximately horizontal position,rollers having spurs upon their peripheries, journaled upon each side ofthe knife and spreader and presenting their peripheries at angleschanging gradually from the vertical to the horizontal to correspondwith the form of the spreader, and mechanism by which said rollers arerevolved in unison.

The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a centrally-disposedvertical knife, a spreader consisting of sides gradually diverging froma vertical position at the knife to an approximately horizontal positionat the rear, rollers journaled upon each side having the angles of theirperipheries corresponding with the changing angles of the spreader andprovided with spurs adapted to engage and transmit the fish over thecutter and spreader, means for transmitting power to revolve the rollersin unison, and means causing the rollers to approach or separatetransversely.

4. The combination in a fish-cleaning machine of a vertically disposedcutter, a spreader, rollers having their peripheries provided with spursadapted to engage the sides of the fish, shafts upon which the rollersare carried, horizontal shafts and bevel gears through which motion istransmitted from the horizontal shafts to the rollershafts, feathersupon which the gears of the horizontal shafts are movable, lateralslidable carriers upon which the roller-shafts are carried, andclutch-forks upon the carriers engaging the gears of the horizontalshafts and moving them in unison with the movements of the rollers andtheir gears.

5. The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a vertically disposedstationary cutter, a gradually-diverging spreader extending rearwardlytherefrom, rollers journaled upon opposite sides of the cutter andspreader having their peripheries conforming to the cutter and to thesurface of the spreader and provided with spurs by which the fish isadvanced, transversely-movable carriers upon which the roller-shafts arecarried, horizontal shafts and bevel-gears through which motion istransmitted to the rollers from main and counter shafts, means forsliding the transmitting-gears and maintaining them in mesh with thoseof the roller shafts, and springs by which the carriers and rollers areautomatically returned to their normal position after the passing of thefish.

6. The combination in a fish-cleaning machine of a verticalsplitting-knife and spreaders diverging rearwardly, rollers having spursupon their periphery and conforming to the changing positions of thefish, said rollers being mounted upon horizontally-slidable carriers andseparable to conform to different sizes of fish, springs by which therollers are returned to their normal position after the fish has passed,and stops limiting the return movement of the rollers.

7. The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a fixed verticalsplitting-knife, spreaders diverging upon each side of the kniferearwardly having a slot or opening in the rearmost portion, fixedscrapers extending upwardly through said slot, and rollers adjustablyjournaled upon opposite sides of the knife and spreader havingperipheral spurs adapted to engage and transmit the fish over the cutterand spreaders.

S. The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a fixed verticalsplitting-knife, spreaders diverging upon each side of the kniferearwardly and having an open centrally-disposed slot, scrapersprojecting upwardly through the slot, at pressure-plate located above,and between which and the spreader the fish passes, and rollersadjustably journaled with relation to the knife and spreader and adaptedto engage and transmit the fish over the knife and spreader.

9. The combination in a fish-cleaning apparatus of a fixed verticalsplitting-knife, spreaders diverging upon each side of the kniferearwardly and having an open centrally disposed slot, scrapersprojecting through said slot, a yielding spring-pressed plate locatedabove and between which and the spreader the fish passes, and rollersadjustably journaled with relation to the knife and spreader, andadapted to engage and transmit the fish over the knife and spreader.

10. In a fish-cleaning apparatus, revoluble vertically journaledfeed-rollers opposing each other in pairs, means by which the fish issuspended between the rollers without other support, means forpositively driving the rollers, and means by which the rollers areadjusted to and from each other for differentsized fish.

11. In a fish-dressing machine the combination of vertically-journaledspur-armed feedrollers opposing each other in pairs, means forpositively driving the rollers, means whereby the rollers areadjustable, and a splitting-knife and spreader to which the fish isdelivered.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ALBERT J. FARMER.

\Vitnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, CHAS. E. ToWNsEND.

